Yesterday I talked a little about food addition, including coffee. Anytime we use a substance to numb ourselves we miss the present moment. We also harm our body. 🙁

I confessed my love/hate affair with coffee. You might wonder what I do. Well here is the scoop.

I continue to like my coffee: hot, iced, latte, cappuccino, espresso and con leche. But I knew I was revving my body with all that caffeine and my stomach was telling me “no-no” with heart burn in the evening.

Here are some things I have done to lessen the coffee intake. I have switch to drinking tea (black, green and herbal) during the week. In the morning I will drink a cup of hot water and 1/4 lemon. The rind is bitter, and I do not put that in my cup. Rather I squeeze the juice and add boiling water. I really enjoy this cup of “tea” in the morning. It is a good way to get the gut up and moving, pun intended.

Later I may have a cup of black tea or green tea. It will give me a little boost without the big caffeine hit of coffee.

I try to drink between 75 and 100 ounces of filtered water each day. You should be drinking about half your weight in ounces of water to help your body detox. To calculate that: 150 pound person, 1/2 of 150 is 75. Drink 75 ounces of water or more.

Divide your water up during the day. I even drink a 12 ounce glass during the night. If getting up to go to the bathroom is bothering you, drink more of your water earlier in the day. Remember that caffeine is a diuretic, it will make you urinate more.

Speaking of which, you want to drink enough water so that your urine is pale yellow.

Once we get the sun (in the cold, dark central NY), I like to make sun tea. I put 3-4 tea bags (green or black) in a glass gallon jug of filtered water in the sun for a few hours. Then I store the tea in the refrigerator. I may add lemon or mint. Mint and tea is very refreshing and a great change of pace.

Then on the weekend I thoroughly enjoy my fresh brewed coffee with cream. I have done away with the sugar for the most part. I am pretty persnickety about my coffee. Has to be fresh. I won’t use artificial condiments. I buy fair trade coffees most of the time and I will mix regular with decaf.

For special treats I do enjoy a cappuccino or a latte. There is a Puerto Rican restaurant near my husband’s apartment in New Jersey. They serve the best Puerto Rican coffee: cafe con leche. 🙂

That is my coffee saga. Enjoy!